April 2, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Judge tells GOP to honor requests for roll call votes in Legislature
Lansing— An Ingham County Circuit Court judge has found Republicans who control the Michigan House of Representatives violated the state constitution by not recognizing repeated requests by Democrats for roll call votes.
Judge Clinton Canady III issued a temporary restraining order Monday afternoon compelling House Republicans in the majority party to hold recorded roll call votes when at least 22 Democrats request one.
Democrats in the minority party sued House Speaker Jase Bolger and the GOP leaders last week because Bolger or Speaker Pro Tem John Walsh, R-Livonia, would not recognize their request for a recorded roll call vote. The state constitution states that a roll call "shall" be conducted whenever requested by one-fifth of the House members.
"I don't see how the House Rules can circumvent the constitution that says they'd be entitled to a roll call vote," Canady told lawyers representing the feuding legislators. "Each citizen has a right to know — upon the appropriate request being made by members of the Legislature — how people vote on issues such as these."
Republicans took control of House in January 2011 following the November 2010 elections. House GOP leaders continued the long tradition of either having members stand when they want a law to take immediate effect upon signature of the governor.
Democrats acknowledge they also used a rising vote when they were previously in charge.
"The House has done that for decades, regardless of who is in charge," said Ari Adler, spokesman for Bolger, R-Marshall.
Roll call votes on immediate effect clauses are sometimes taken as well, Adler said.
Attorney General Bill Schuette, representing the House's majority party, will ask the Michigan Court of Appeals to immediately consider an appeal later this week, said spokeswoman Joy Yearout.
The Democrats lawsuit dealt with three recently passed bills, which prohibited public school employers from collecting union dues, prohibiting university graduate assistants from forming a union and getting approval of the state Board of Canvassers to circulate a petition amending the constitution.
Canady's order means the "phony" immediate effect votes on those new bills are overturned and they can't go into effect until late March or early April of next year, said Michael Hodge, attorney for House Democrats.
The immediate effect of others bills already passed by the House and awaiting approval in the Senate may be "in jeopardy" if the House doesn't take roll call votes requiring a two-thirds majority, Hodge said.
Michael Murphy, an assistant attorney general representing the House Republican leaders, warned the judge that his order could make him the "referee forever" between the two "squabbling siblings."
"Whether we like the way they do business over there doesn't make it illegal or improper," Murphy told Canady.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120402/POLITICS02/204020421#ixzz1qx3VcEMR
No comments:
Post a Comment